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We have studied the properties of a glial progenitor cell from 7-day-old rat optic nerve that differentiates in vitro into an oligodendrocyte if cultured in serum-free medium and into an astrocyte if cultured in foetal calf serum (FCS). Using galactocerebroside as a marker of oligodendrocyte differentiation and glial fibrillary acidic protein as a marker of astrocyte differentiation, we show that the acquisition of these marker molecules occurs rapidly in culture and requires both RNA and protein synthesis. We provide evidence that the effect of FCS on the development of the glial progenitor cell is not due to its influence on cell-substrate adherence or actin filament organization and is not mimicked by an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP or pH. The progenitor cell contains vimentin filaments and retains them on becoming an astrocyte but loses them on becoming an oligodendrocyte. Most importantly, we show that the choice of developmental pathway taken by the bipotential glial progenitor cells in culture is reversible for 1-2 days and then becomes fixed, at least under the conditions we studied.
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
January 1985,
Nature,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
October 1984,
The EMBO journal,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
March 2017,
Neurochemistry international,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
January 1988,
Journal of cell science. Supplement,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
January 1990,
Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
December 1998,
Neuroscience letters,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
January 1986,
Nature,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
March 1995,
Neuroscience letters,
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
September 1987,
Development (Cambridge, England),
M C Raff, and
B P Williams, and
R H Miller
September 2007,
Developmental biology,
